Preamble

Details

Created: 19 February 2016

This is the fundraising plan of me, Archie Douglas, highlighting the route taken that led to my plan to ask you to sponsor me to Live Life to try and Beat the Beast and thus help to improve the Lives and Life Chances of so many more people!!

After just shy of 20 years service in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers followed by the Royal Regiment of Scotland it was time to settle the family and seek a new life in civvi street. Discharged from the Army in December 2012 we settled in Doune, Stirlingshire and started work. I settled in to the role of ‘Daddy Day Care’ and set to work in earnest with a friend to set up the Future Nation Foundation, a not for profit whose aim is to remove the element of chance that so often permeates the lives of our disadvantaged and disengaged youth.

Change of Plan!

However in September 2013 following extensive investigation in to the cause of my deafness a scan revealed not only a Chlosteatoma in the right ear but also a brain tumour on the right temporal lobe measuring 6 x 5 x 7 cms. It turns out that both diseases were triggered at the same time by a blunt force trauma sustained during service some 12 to 15 years ago. The Chlosteatoma was operated on first to get it out the way. The operation, due to the size of the Chlosteatoma, required the removal of the inner ear which left me totally deaf in my right ear with significant balance problems. To add further complications, shortly after diagnosis I developed Epilepsy.

After brain surgery in July 2014 the diagnosis was confirmed of a Grade 2 to 3 Oligodendroglioma Brain Tumour. Despite the successful removal of 40% of the tumour I then learnt that because the tumour had grown deep in to the brain, we could not shrink the brain tumour, and we could not cure the brain tumour, but through the application of 6 weeks of radiotherapy followed by 12 months of chemotherapy hard on the back of surgery we stood a chance of being able to put the tumour to sleep for a time but not kill it. Therefore in time and without a suitable cure being found I stand a strong chance of slowly losing my cognitive (brain) and motor (mobility) function until I am eventually switched off. Such diagnosis and ongoing treatment was clearly a significant blow and one that has altered considerably the path of our lives.